Auror Academy
by DarkArmedRanger
Summary: It's not long after the war and it's time for some auror training! The story of Harry, Ron, and a couple of friends going through Auror Academy. How will they do? Rated T for paranoia. Spoilers for everything. Fluff kept to a minimum. Possibly AU.


**So yeah, I got the idea for this story, and it's lots of fun to write. It's basically set not long after the war and is about Harry and Ron, along with other notable characters (hint hint, DA members like Dean and Seamus, hint hint) training as aurors. But you already know that, from the title and summary. I'll try not to include Hermione or Ginny too much because I'm really bad at writing romance.**

**It was really fun thinking up aspects of training aurors, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!**

**~DarkArmedRanger**

**P.S. Bold = A/N**

Entrance Exams

Harry and Ron stood in the atrium of the ministry of magic, eyes drinking in the changes since Riddle's Reign of Terror **(as I like to call it)**. That disgusting statue was no longer there, in it's place stood a statue of people standing together, with one word engraved in large on the stone:

EQUALITY.

Although Harry and Ron were sad to see Ginny and Hermione, their respective girlfriends, go on the train back to Hogwarts, only to be seen in the next year at hogsmeade weekends (which were now any weekend for sixth years and above) and holidays. It didn't bother them too much as they would meet often at weekends, and they were happy to become aurors, or go through the 3-year training course, of course. That is, if they passed the entrance exam, which was said not to be TOO hard, as it need only test whether you have the ability to train to be an auror.

For once, it was something that Harry had no doubts that he and Ron would pass.

"I think Kingsley will make a great minister, I mean look at the changes he's already made," said Ron absentmindedly, who was also looking at the new statue.

"Yeah, good of him to let us have a chance at becoming aurors, without completing school," replied Harry.

The seventh years who fought in the battle of Hogwarts were given the option of going to several different jobs straight out of school, or going back for an eighth year of study. Many opted to become aurors, so a new test was devised, they test they were going to take today. Like OWLs and NEWTs, it was divided into Practical and Theory, and although he hadn't received any hints, Kingsley did say that one or two of the questions 'may amuse him'.

His friends Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnagan were also taking the test.

"Come on, quick, the test's about to start," said Harry with a tone of urgency, after having seen the time.

"Oh, right, sorry," said Ron, sheepishly. They approached the lifts on the far side that would take them to the 'exam hall', and got in. Once they arrived at the bottom, they got out into a large waiting area, with a bunch of people, mainly their age, waiting by some grand-looking doors.

"Harry, Ron, over here!" called a voice from the small crowd. They were not so surprised to see Dean and Seamus there, huge grins on their faces. Heads turned around at the call, Harry was probably one of the most famous, if not the most famous, wizard of modern times. Ron was well-known, too, but unlike Harry, who disliked his fame, Ron revelled in it.

"Hi," said Ron, a little louder than necessary, attracting more attention to himself. Then, a friendly auror came up behind them, and chuckling softly, he said,

"Not always a good idea to attract attention, Weasley. Good on you Potter, always keep your head down." Ron turned around at once, and stopped attracting attention to himself. "First up is the theory exam, which you will have an hour to complete, with special, anti-cheating quills provided. After that is the practical exam, by which time that has finished the theory exams will have been marked, and you will receive your scores, and be told whether you've been accepted into training." He then waved his wand at the doors, opening them.

"That's good then, if we get our results today," muttered Seamus.

"Yeah," Harry replied, before whispering to Ron, "that means that when we pass we can owl the girls tonight, and maybe drop in at the burrow to tell your family the news."

Harry and Ron were staying at the house in grimmauld place for now, because they wanted to be more independent, and Harry didn't want Mrs. Weasley fussing over him too much.

"The name's John Trepton, by the way, head auror," said the auror with a friendly grin.

They proceeded on to the exam hall, and they were told to sit in silence, and then the exams appeared, and they were told to begin. Harry looked down at the first question and smiled,

Q1) Name three powerful dark wizards.

_Grindelwald, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Tom Riddle (Lord Voldemort)._

The test seemed to be even easier than he thought; when he saw question 2, he smirked and winked at Ron, who was behind him, also smirking.

Q2) What would you use to pose as someone else, for something such as infiltration purposes?

_Polyjuice potion, or at the very least, a powerful disillusionment charm._

Later, there were even more easier questions, like:

Q7) Name and describe the unforgivable curses.

_The Imperius curse, incantation 'Imperio', gives the user complete control over the target. However, it can be fought, using constant vigilance. The Cruciatus curse, incantation 'Crucio', effectively tortures the victim, with pain levels depending on the user and the intent behind the curse. It can inflict both mental and physical pain, and has been known to drive people into insanity. Lastly, the killing curse, incantation 'Avada Kedavra', is a foolproof method of killing something, or someone, if it hits. Only one person, and that is myself _**(arrogant much?) **_has ever survived it, and that is only due to unusual circumstances._

Then later,

Q14) Describe the theory for the patronus charm.

_The patronus charm summons a patronus, which is usually used to fight off Dementors and Lethifolds. It is quite advanced magic; many adult wizards struggle with it. The incantation is 'expecto patronum', and you have to think of an extremely happy thought or memory to be able to pull it off. It is therefore unfortunate that it is the only effective way of repelling dementors, seeing as how dementors suck out all of your happy thoughts, leaving you with just despair. A corporeal patronus takes the form of an animal, usually one that reflects your inner nature, whereas one that is not represents vapour, or a sort of shield/barrier. Patronuses can also be used to send messages._

There were a few harder questions, too, though, however Harry didn't leave a single one blank, he at least guessed. One of his favourites was one he wouldn't have known if not for being on the run.

Q11) How would you detect if anyone else was in an area with you, possibly hiding?

_Use the spell to reveal human presence, incantation 'Homenum Revelio'._

Q5) Name and describe the darkest magical 'artifact' you know.

_A horcrux, it is a piece of a dark wizard's soul, ripped apart by extremely evil acts such as murder, and held in an item; they render the owner/creator almost immortal; they cannot die, instead they become less than a ghost. The only way you can destroy a horcrux is with an extremely destructive substance such as basilisk venom or fiendfyre._

Harry thought he may have gone into a bit more detail than was required, but better too much than not enough. Harry was the first to complete his paper, all 20 questions took him just 30 minutes, so he just relaxed for the remaining half hour. Seamus looked up briefly from his paper to see Harry smirking, so he just playfully scowled back at him.

Around 5 minutes after Harry finished, Ron did, and he looked around the room to see he was the second to finish, and he exchanged a smirk with Harry, which didn't go unnoticed by the examiner, the head auror, John Trepton. He simply grinned at them; he has been expecting this to happen.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, the exam was over.

"Well, that was easy!" exclaimed Harry to Ron, as they waited temporarily outside for the hall to be rearranged for the practical exam.

"I know, right," Ron replied.

"Question 11 would've been a lot harder if we hadn't been in the same situation the first time we went to grimmauld place after Dumbledore's death," said Harry.

"I know, remind me to thank Hermione for the useful information of that 'Homenum Revelio' spell," snickered Ron.

"Oh, that's what that question was!" said Seamus, "it was one of the only ones I couldn't answer!"

"I couldn't, either," admitted Dean.

"My only worry is that I've written too much," said Harry.

"God," said Ron, "you're starting to sound like Hermione!" This comment earned him a playful scowl from Harry and snorts from the other two.

They were then interrupted by a voice calling them from the doors, telling them to come back inside.

There were a group of aurors standing in the middle, some bright and young, some kindly, some hard, some battle-weary and weathered.

"OK," said John Trepton, "for this practical exam you'll be firstly separated into small groups, each group given an auror. Afterwards, we'll all come back together for the more advanced bit."

Harry and Ron ended up in a group with a shy girl, who turned out to be quite powerful, but not too fast. The first thing their instructor did was tell them to draw their wands and then quickly afterwards firing disarming spells at them. With quick reflexes born of agile bodies, quidditch, and a year on the run hunting horcruxes, Harry and Ron managed to draw their wands and cast shield charms in time, so strong in fact that their instructor was disarmed. No-one else in the room had managed to do so, giving Harry a glowing sense of pride inside.

Nothing much interesting happened in the little group session, but when they got together again things got interesting.

"Now, how many of you can do patronus charms?" asked John Trepton. Only Harry, Ron, Dean and Seamus raised their hands. The head auror seemed taken aback.

"Really, at such a young age? Corporeal Patronuses" he said.

"Yes, sir," they all replied.

Then, turning to each of them in turn, he asked, "at what age were you when you learnt it?"

"16," said Ron, making the head auror look impressed.

"16," said Seamus, the head auror was getting yet more impressed.

"16 for me aswell sir," said Dean, and the aurors and other students were looking on in surprise.

"13," said Harry, and he could see Trepton's eyes grow wide, others looking at him in awe.

"Who taught you all?" he asked.

"Remus Lupin, in our third year at Hogwarts," was Harry's answer, and that caused Trepton to grin, but it was nothing to the reactions from the answers given by the others.

"Harry," they said, nodding towards him in the room, "in our fifth year at Hogwarts." Everyone was looking at them in awe, even the aurors were clearly impressed. Not only was Harry the youngest person they knew to have been able to perform the patronus charm, but he taught it to others before most would have even learnt it themselves.

"Wow," said Trepton, "I'm impressed. Could you show us-?"

They all summoned their patronuses, Harry's brightest of them all, seemingly almost solid. Ron's was quite powerful, too, more so than the other two. Harry's stag started chasing Ron's jack russell terrier, earning laughs from other students, who had formed a sort of crowd with the aurors.

"That's one powerful patronus," said one auror in admiration, looking at Harry's stag patronus, murmurs of agreement coming from the crowd.

A while later, something else that Harry found amusing cropped up – they had to fight the imperius curse. Ron went near the front, and to his credit, he was a lot less succeptible than he used to be, almost looking like he was going to resist, but in the end offering not much more resistance than the people who went before him, which was next to none at all.

Even Dean and Seamus didn't do very well, but you could tell from the looks in the auror's faces that they didn't expect anyone to be able to resist – the head auror, John Trepton, was the caster, and he was very powerful at this sort of thing. However, after many failed attempts it was Harry's turn, and as he stepped up to the mark, he saw that there were only two people behind him.

"Imperio!" shouted Trepton, aiming his wand at Harry, hitting him with the curse full on. Harry drifted into that familiar state of bliss and blankness, but then a voice in the back of his mind told him to snap out of it, before a command was even issued! "OK, now cartwheel around the room," said Trepton, a knowing gleam in his eye.

"I don't think I will, thanks," replied Harry coolly, causing people to look on at him in awe. He then shrunk back into the crowd, not liking too much attention.

"I say, Mr. Potter, well done!" called out Trepton. Ron also muttered his congratulations.

"Meh, I've done better. I completely resisted voldemort's imperius back in fourth year, although that was a lot harder. It mainly takes willpower and determination, not much to do with magical ability." Muttered Harry to Ron.

"Now if you would please all wait outside for a few minutes whilst we gather your results!" Said Trepton, after the final two people had finished, neither doing any better than anyone before Harry.

He couldn't wait for his results, he felt sure he'd passed, but he wished people didn't keep congratulating him on his skill – he hated attention.

**I know it's a bit brief, but I'm not THAT good a writer yet, and that's kinda my style – I'm no good at detailed/lengthy descriptions, and I dislike doing them, so generally, I try not to. Please review and tell me what you think, at least the idea! Five minutes (or less) of your day, can help make mine, and you don't even need an account, so hit that review button now!**

**~DarkArmedRanger**


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